Electric Fields: Laetitia Sonami
Electric Fields: Laetitia Sonami
E-fest 2021: Electric Fields – gestural sonic expansions
LAETITIA SONAMI
Magnetic Memories: Song of Tsar
World Premiere
(2021, 23 minutes)
Song of Tsar is a new work belonging to the Magnetic Memories cycle.
The cycle started in 2017 as an exploration of the Spring Spyre, the instrument Sonami built following the lady’s glove.
The focus in Song of Tsar is on the emptiness of the circle, which is crossed by three long springs. What comes out of this emptiness as its surface vibrates? The title refers to the Tsar Bell bell in Moscow, completed in 1735 and which has never been rung. The sound has since been “re-created” through analysis and synthesis. This led Sonami to imagine the sound of objects and places which were never sounded, or which were silenced.
Three thin springs are attached to spring reverb pick-ups on the metal wheel and generate audio signals when touched, rubbed or plucked. While not heard, the features extracted from these audio signals are sent to the Machine Learning software which controls the audio synthesis in real time.
Camera work: Dustin Schultz
Laetitia Sonami is a sound artist, performer and composer.
Sonami’s sound performances, live-film collaborations and sound installations focus on issues of presence and participation. Best known for her unique instrument, the elbow‐length lady’s glove, she currently performs with her latest instrument, the Spring Spyre, based on the application of neural networks to real-time audio synthesis. Sonami currently teaches at the Center for Contemporary Music, Mills College.
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